"Breakfast of champions. Want some?" Nathan asked, offering his box of Cracker Jacks.
"You're late," Haley said, not even bothering to look up from her notes.
She waited fifteen minutes for Nathan to show up at the docks that morning. It was his idea that she'd tutor him. The least he could do was actually be on time. Haley had thought he was serious about getting his grades up. They were supposed to start at seven and with school beginning at eight, it gave them about thirty minutes to go over four classes worth of work.
Nathan sighed and took off his backpack, throwing it onto the bench where he sat. He opened up the cracker jack box and searched for the prize. "Ugh, please let this be a cheat sheet," Nathan hoped. Ripping the prize package open, Nathan was disappointed to find some plastic beaded bracelet. Glancing at Haley, who was unamused, Nathan grinned. "It's for you."
Haley rolled her eyes. "Stop it," she insisted.
"Come on," Nathan said. Grabbing her wrist, he slipped on the bracelet and flashed his signature smile to sweeten the gesture. "Don't say I never gave you anything."
Haley couldn't believe the gall on this guy. First he beds her, then he flirts with her. She held her math book out, showing him the assignment they were supposed to be working on. "Do you see this book? Because this book is me. I am math."
"What's that supposed to mean?"
"It's supposed to mean that you can work your whole 'I'm Nathan Scott, Mr. Big shot, scoring my touchdowns' on somebody else, because I don't-"
"I don't even play football."
"Whatever. Look, the point is at the end of the day, all your bluster and BS don't mean anything to math because math don't care, and neither do I." She wanted to make it clear what her intentions were. This was simply an exchange between the two of them. There was no need to pretend this was anything more than a business deal.
"Well, does English care? 'Cause I really suck at that, too," Nathan joked. He had to at least have a little fun with this tutoring thing. Paying attention in school was hard enough. Doing assignments outside of the confines of the building added an extra layer of difficulty.
"Please don't waste my time. I'm only doing this because you promised not to tell Lucas about what happened last weekend," Haley reinforced. "You aren't going to tell Lucas."
"Cross my heart." Nathan even crossed his heart for good measure.
The plan was to tell Lucas eventually, but he wouldn't let Haley know that. She would never have agreed to tutor him if she knew his true intentions.
"Let's just get started." Haley handed him the math book she had been holding. "Page 81."
"Where were you this morning?" Peyton questioned harshly, leaning against the open door of Nathan's locker.
"Good morning to you too," Nathan mumbled, placing his history textbook into his backpack. "What do you want Peyton?"
"What do I want?" Peyton scoffed. "I want a boyfriend who remembers to pick up his girlfriend for school."
"Shit," Nathan cursed under his breath. He knew he was forgetting something this morning. Between waking up late and rushing to meet Haley at the docks, Peyton completely slipped his mind.
Peyton's car was in the shop and Nathan had offered to give her a ride. He was already on thin ice from the video prank he pulled on Lucas Friday night and thought that maybe giving her a ride would get him back in her good graces.
Saturday, Peyton avoided him at all costs. She ignored his calls and turned around if she saw him headed her direction. Yesterday when he'd shown up at her house, Peyton could no longer avoid him.
His visit had turned into a screaming match between the two of them. Peyton didn't like the person he was becoming and hated how cruel and vindictive he was getting around Lucas. Nathan was furious that his girlfriend was siding against him. He accused her of cheating on him with Lucas, which she vehemently denied, but she did point out the double standard since Nathan constantly cheats on her. That's when both parties calmed down and Nathan promised to make it up to her. Peyton gave him one last chance to make it up to her or else they were finish. This morning Nathan had blew it.
"Yeah, shit, indeed. Where were you this morning that was so much more important than picking me up?" Peyton asked, with her hands on her hips. Did he really not care about their relationship, she thought.
"I was getting tutored, okay," Nathan explained, slamming his locker angrily. Peyton's hard exterior melted at Nathan's admission. "You happy?"
Nathan didn't want to talk about that fact he was getting tutored. He would have preferred to keep that information hidden from the general public and Peyton. It was not easy letting everyone know that he was failing.
"Nathan," Peyton began. She was speechless. Out of all the excuses Nathan had cooked up in the past, none had ever been about school. She could have chosen to either believe his admission as a lie or take his word. Peyton was compelled to take the latter. "I didn't know. I'm sorry."
Nathan laughed. Peyton saying she was sorry was not something he heard often. It was kind of weird hearing her say it. "We all good then?" Peyton nodded and Nathan smiled as he wrapped his arm around her shoulder and continued to walk through the halls together. "How did you get to school anyways?"
"A friend picked me up."
Nathan cocked his head to the side. The inflection in her voice suggested the she was omitting part of the truth; otherwise she would have named the person when he asked. "Which friend? Brooke? Theresa?"
Peyton gulped. She knew she wasn't going to get away unscathed. Nathan was not the type to relent so easily. He was going to pester her until she told him who drove her to school.
She snuck out of Nathan's arm and dragged him into any empty classroom, knowing a fight would most likely ensue. "It was Lucas, okay," Peyton admitted once she shut the door.
"Lucas?" Nathan asked with a hint of disgust in his voice. Of all people that could have taken her, Peyton went straight into the arms of Lucas. Nathan should have known. The guy was looking for any opportunity to steal his girlfriend away from him. "What the hell, Peyton!"
"It's not like I called him. He was driving by and saw me waiting outside for you. You didn't show up. What was I supposed to do, Nate?" Peyton waited around twenty minutes for Nathan. Lucas offered her a ride. Typically, she wouldn't have accepted, but she was going to be late otherwise.
"Not go with him," Nathan argued.
Peyton was fed up. She didn't want to fight or argue anymore. "You know what, I'm done," Peyton said. She readjusted the strap of her shoulder bag and started to head towards the door.
"What's that supposed to mean?"
"We're done. I can't keep doing this anymore. We don't talk anymore and if we do it's about Lucas. Even then we're not talking, just arguing," Peyton explained. Today marked the hump that finally broke the camel's back. She just wanted nothing but out of this relationship. It would eliminate a great deal of stress off both of them.
Nathan stood in the classroom dumbfounded while Peyton walked off with a new weight off her shoulders. She breathed a sigh of relief.
If this past weekend proved anything, it showed how horrible a boyfriend and person Nathan was. He cheated constantly and treated her like crap. He treated her as property rather than a human being. Nathan didn't care about her or how she felt. It was always about how he felt. He didn't even bother to ask how she was doing on the anniversary of her mother's death. Nathan just forgot the day entirely.
While she was out on the porch with Lucas, she realized she deserved better, whether that be Lucas or not, she could no longer put up with Nathan. After giving him an opportunity to make up for this past weekend, this morning had been the last straw with his reaction alone. She could have easily ended it for Friday night's stunt, but Peyton gave him another chance. She gave him a million chances, yet he kept letting her down.
Nathan tried to shake off the initial shock. He was the one that always did the breaking up. Never had he been on the receiving end. It sucked. But Nathan wouldn't allow that to phase him. He'd do some damage control by telling Tim that he broke up with Peyton because he didn't want to be tied down. Knowing Tim, Tim would have the information spread around the school by lunch.
Walking out of the classroom, he spotted Haley at her locker from the corner of his eye. "Peyton and me broke up," he said, making his presence known to Haley.
"Peyton and I," Haley corrected.
"She broke up with you, too?" Nathan tried to joke to make light of the situation.
Haley shut her locker. "Why are you telling me this?" She thought her and Nathan's interactions were strictly for tutoring only. Why was he going out of his way to talk to her about something so trivial like his relationships.
Nathan shrugged. "I don't know, I guess you're a good listener. And to let you know I'm officially on the market, in case you wanted to do our Friday night activity more often." Nathan wiggled his eyebrows and Haley rolled her eyes. She tried to escape his attention, but he refused to leave. "But seriously, do you think we could meet at my house after practice? We didn't get to go over my last English test this morning."
"Sure," Haley agreed. She didn't have to work at the café tonight and it's not like she could say no to him. Her tutoring him was the only thing keeping his mouth shut.
Nathan saw Lucas coming up behind Haley from down the hall. As Lucas drew closer, Nathan strategically bent down and whispered into her ear, "Great, can't wait to see you then." By the time he straightened himself out, Lucas was already standing behind Haley. "Lucas."
Once Nathan was gone and out of earshot, Haley turned around pissed. He was just trying to get under Lucas' skin and through their arrangement in his face. "What was that about?" Lucas asked.
"He just asked me to tutor him after practice today," Haley explained.
Lucas took a deep breath to center himself. He and Haley were supposed to hang out after practice. Since basketball started, he hadn't had as much time to spend with her. Today had been one of those rare days that Lucas would get out of practice early.
She could tell Lucas was angry and disappointed, but she did have information that would cheer him up. "On the bright side, Nathan and Peyton broke up," Haley mentioned.
Lucas froze. He must've heard wrong. He didn't think this would actually happen so soon. Peyton and Nathan's downfall was inevitable, they were horrible together. The only ones blind to see it were the parties involved.
"What?" Lucas asked, stunned.
The first warning bell rang and if Haley and Lucas didn't move fast enough they would be late to class. "Looks like we gotta go," Haley insisted.
Haley started to walk towards her class, but Lucas didn't move. He wanted to know everything that happened and what led up to the breakup. "We're not through with this!" Lucas yelled down the hall.
"Yes we are! Now get your butt to class!"